Day 70: God is Editing Israel’s Laws on Adultery, Seduction, and Rape

Today we read Numbers 21, Deuteronomy 21-22, and Psalm 102. The Bible contains adult themes, particularly in today’s reading. Parental discretion is advised. Today we read about how seizing leads to death and seducing leads to cost and commitment. We read about God editing the laws of Israel related to non-Israelite women captured in war, a husband who dislikes his wife, a promiscuous wife, a man who rapes a woman, and a man who seduces an unmarried woman. Israel is being differentiated from the Babylonian and Assyrian cultural practices around them. We continue to see how God is just and due process is required, moral defection cannot be tolerated, and God is providing safeguards against exploiting the vulnerable, those with less power in a cultural situation.

Resources:

Dr. Richter, Sandra. (2021) Rape in Israel's World and Ours: A Study of Deuteronomy 22:23-29. Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society. 64.1: 59–76. https://www.etsjets.org/files/JETS-PDFs/64/64-1/JETS_64.1_59-76_Richter.pdf 

 

Dr. Richter, Sandra and Dr. Scott Rae (2020). Sexual Violence Against Women and the Old Testament Law. Thinking Biblically Blog and Podcast. Biola University. https://www.biola.edu/blogs/think-biblically/2020/sexual-violence-against-women

Dr. Rabbi David Resnick (2021) The Captive Woman at the Intersection of War and Family Laws. TheTorah.com. https://thetorah.com/article/the-captive-woman-at-the-intersection-of-war-and-family-laws 

Credits:

Podcast music by Stockaudios from Pixabay. Speaker, Dr. Rachel Bodell. Podcast Sound Engineer, Alan Darling. Podcast Artwork, Will Gerard.